We arrived back at the cave and showed Damecus the supplies. He seems very calm and collected for a lizardman, I do have to admit. His distaste for me aside… I was expecting more outward aggression towards everyone… but he talks calmly and quite thoughtfully. Albeit in an incredibly deep and serious tone.

  Damecus: “Did you get everything?”

  Kiyui: “I believe so. Your friend was very helpful.”

  Dwynfel: “May I ask? What is Shalnack paste?”

  Damecus: “It is for the tiny human. Lizardmen use it to prevent dry scale. But for a skinned creature, it offers protection from the sun. The tiny human’s skin does not appear familiar with such intense heat. Cover him in the paste and once absorbed it will protect his skin for about a month. The protection will steadily reduce over time… giving his skin time to acclimatise to the sun. It will allow him to be cooler and free of having to wear the blanket all day.”

  I looked over at Tadwick… the backs of his legs had already started to turn red. We hadn’t even spent that much time in the sun. We spent most of the time in the village stood in the shade of various buildings.

  If what he says about this paste is true, then the boy definitely needs it.

  Kiyui: “That’s very thoughtful of you.”

  Damecus: “Not particularly, a sun damaged child would slow our journey down tremendously. It is simply practical.”

  Dwynfel: “Hang on… how do you know all this stuff?”

  Damecus: “I am a botanist.”

  Dwynfel: “What?”

  Damecus: “I study plant life. I have worked out many uses for various plants. This paste is made from the Shalnack root. I have tested it on a variety of species. Speaking of which, where is the child?”

  We all looked around the cave… Tadwick was nowhere to be seen. What the fuck? He was literally just there.

  Kiyui: “He was with us a second ago, he definitely entered the cave with us.”

  Dwynfel: “I don’t understand… I can still smell him… he’s definitely here.”

  Damecus sighed and rolled his eyes.

  Damecus: “That is enough, Nomius.”

  Suddenly Nomius materialised out of thin air… this time with Tadwick on his shoulders. Tadwick was laughing.

  Tadwick: “You guys really couldn’t see me?”

  Dwynfel: “Ok seriously… could somebody explain to me how he’s doing that?”

  Nomius made some ominous hand gestures towards Damecus. Damecus sighed again.

  Damecus: “You have only ever encountered Dominus’ clan, correct?”

  Dwynfel: “I assume so…”

  Damecus: “They were all green, correct?”

  Dwynfel: “Yes.”

  Damecus: “Did you notice anything unusual about them?”

  We all looked at each other. None of us could think of anything. I mean… they got into the village a little too easily but… how did they do that actually? We all shook our heads.

  Damecus sighed, then stood up and walked to the wall of the cave. He began to walk up the wall on all fours… eventually he was walking on the ceiling of the cave. He looked down at all of us.

  Tadwick: “I wanna do that! How can I do that?”

  Damecus let go of the ceiling and dropped to the floor.

  Damecus: “We green lizardmen can walk on walls and ceilings.”

  Phoenix: “Hmm.”

  Dwynfel: “Well, that explains how so many of them got into the village.”

  Kiyui: “You say the green lizardmen can do that. So, the other colours can’t?”

  Damecus: “The yellow lizardmen can. But only after touching a green lizardman. The yellow lizardmen are leeches. They gain the ability of the last lizardman that they touched.”

  Phoenix: “I assume the red ones can alter the visibility of them and those they are touching.”

  Damecus: “Indeed.”

  Well, this explains a lot. No wonder fortresses often fall easily to the lizardmen. They can just swarm the walls. And they normally kill everybody in any location that they take. So very few witnesses to talk about it.

  Dwynfel: “Hold on… how many colours do you guys come in? And you mentioned clans… how many clans are there?”

  Damecus: “The lizard men come in seven colours… there are also seven clans.”

  Kiyui: “Ooooo one for every colour?”

  Phoenix: “No. The Sawtooth clan is mixed.”

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  Damecus: “Very astute of you, madame.”

  Phoenix: “Phoenix.”

  Damecus: “As you wish. Six of the clans are pure blood clans. They are all one colour. Dominus’ clan is entirely green. The other clans are red, black, blue, purple, and yellow respectively. We, the Sawtooth clan, are made up of the outcasts. The ones who are not pureblood. Those who dare to mix with one another. We are the most peaceful of the clans. Although we do have an alliance with the Sundragon clan.”

  Kiyui: “Oooh, are they yellow?”

  Damecus laughed slightly to himself.

  Damecus: “Yes, they are yellow.”

  Tadwick: “What’s the other colour?”

  Dwynfel: “Good question… you said there were seven colours… you only mentioned six.”

  Damecus: “The white lizardmen are incredibly rare. I only know of three. The other clans kill them as soon as they are born.”

  Kiyui: “That’s horrid, why would they do that?”

  Damecus: “They say they are a bad omen. In reality, it is because they can nullify all magic around them. Our abilities may feel natural to us, but they are magical in nature. Being able to have our abilities taken away frightens the other clans. So, they remove what they consider to be the problem.”

  See… told you they were savages. My monster almanac may have been wrong about a lot of things. But if they are willing to murder children, then they are clearly monsters.

  But I have to admit… it doesn’t make much sense from a group that are normally so hellbent on world domination.

  Dwynfel: “Being able to nullify all magic around you would be a helpful strategic ability to have. I’m surprised that the other clans don’t try to capitalise on that.”

  Damecus: “I am afraid that they cannot be precise with their ability, when they activate it, they nullify everything around them in a large radius. The other clans all believe that their abilities are the strongest. So why would they risk disabling themselves when they consider their abilities superior to all others?”

  These other clans sound incredibly over-confident. It sounds like we were lucky we bumped into this Sawtooth clan rather than any of the others.

  Dwynfel: “Still… sounds like a helpful thing to have in an emergency to me.”

  Damecus: “Likewise. Hence the Sawtooth clan not harming them. However, they cannot leave our village. If the other clans see them outside, they will not hesitate to kill them. The Sawtooth clan believe that we lizardmen are stronger when we pool our abilities together. We are not popular with most of the other clans for this.”

  These other clans sound very illogical to me. A collection of different skills will always be more useful and adaptable. Limiting themselves so fiercely… it just limits their capabilities.

  Kiyui: “So what can the other lizard men do?”

  Phoenix: “We may need to know. In case of confrontation.”

  Damecus: “The black ones can teleport a short distance. We call it blinking. They can only teleport maybe ten meters at a time but they can teleport multiple times in quick succession. They are formidable fighters as a result. Purple lizard men are what we call creationists. They can temporarily make any item. As soon as they stop thinking about the item it will disappear.”

  Dwynfel: “That explains the bow with no arrows.”

  Kiyui: “Huh?”

  Dwynfel: “The purple guard at the gate had a bow but no arrows.”

  Damecus: “Indeed. He will create an arrow, fire it, after it hits it will disappear and he will create another one.”

  Dwynfel: “Oh, that would be so helpful. Running out of arrows is the bane of my life.”

  Nomius tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a quiver of arrows.

  Dwynfel: “Oh, um, thanks.”

  Damecus: “Arrows were on the list that I gave him. Kiyui informed me that you were most effective at range.”

  Dwynfel: “Thanks… I get the feeling I’ll need these.”

  Tadwick: “Blue!”

  Dwynfel: “Oh yeah… and the blue lizardmen?”

  Damecus: “Elementalists. They can breathe fire, shoot electricity with one hand, and freeze things with the other. They can also manipulate fire and water.”

  Tadwick: “That’s so cool!”

  Tadwick jumped down from Nomius’ shoulders and started pretending to shoot electricity from his hands. Nomius laughed.

  Dwynfel: “Don’t take this the wrong way… but your abilities don’t exactly seem even. It seems odd that Dominus’ clan would make any claims about being the strongest.”

  Damecus: “Dominus’ clan’s strength is in their numbers. But Dominus is not stupid. That is why he crossed the Uddin Sea to try to exert his dominance over what he considers the lesser races.”

  Phoenix laughed to herself.

  Damecus: “Why are you laughing?”

  Phoenix: “Our friend sliced Dominus’ neck open. We watched him bleed to death… slowly.”

  Nomius laughed and patted Phoenix on the back. He was very firm and it jolted her. She looked at him mildly irritated but he was too busy laughing to see it. He then made some weird hand gestures at Damecus. Damecus then laughed.

  Damecus: “He likes the fire in your heart. Dominus was always over-confident. The Viridescent clan will be in disarray now. It will take them time to regroup after that. I suggest we get you home before they do.”